'Atheist' isn't my preference.

I’ve realised I prefer not to call myself an atheist. It seems like strange word. A word for something you don’t believe in. I don’t believe in unicorns but there’s no word for that, or pretty much anything else I don’t believe in.

Instead of calling myself an atheist I’d rather call myself a person of reason.

Plus what hits harder when someone asks if you believe in god, replying "No, I'm an atheist." OR "No. I'm a man/woman of reason".

(Though I do realise 'atheist' is a little sexier and easier to google.)

That's all well and good. Very compassionate of you! But bear in mind two things:

1. This is people continue to hate, fear, misunderstand the word 'atheist'.

2. Realize this: *You* are NOT responsible for *any* emotion that a believer's faith may inspire in that believer, be it fear, hate, pain, or confusion. Their religion is *their* religion, ergo *their* responsibility and "cross to bear".

yes kim i am not responsible for their emotions, but I would seriously get the immediate blame for eliciting these emotions. I am just not up for that. I have much more important things to deal with other than their condescending, arrogant need to "save me........ "

I have no wish to be just as condescending, arrogant in my insistence that they are wrong, which is exactly the way a theist thinks when they know an atheist is amongst them.....

that is exactly why misunderstandings occur and communications are not so clean; we all have individual meanings for words that may or may not jive with the dictionary meaning. Some personal meanings of words are broader and geographic.

some people think of religious means scrupulous, faithful and conscientious

I, too, am uncomfortable with the term "atheist" because I think it is too equivocating -"wishy-washy", if you will. I think everything about any religion is so preposterous as to make it quite certain in my mind that there are not and cannot be gods and the like. If I had to coin a term to describe myself, I suppose it would be "non-theist." If, in discussion with a theist, I am in a contentious frame of mind, I generally refer to myself as an "anti-theist" in order to make clear my antipathy toward religion.